The big game on the Pac-12 college football slate this week is the battle between the Stanford Cardinal and Oregon Ducks. The winner of that game will almost certainly win the Pac-12 North Division and host the inaugural Pac-12 Championship Game on Friday, December 2. Stanford is ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press poll and Oregon is No. 6, making this the 13th battle of Pac-12 (or Pac-10) top 10 teams in the last 26 years.
The last battle of top 10 teams was this very same game last season, when No. 4 Oregon beat No. 9 Stanford 52-31 in Eugene, en route to the BCS Championship Game. Of the previous 12 AP top-10 matchups in the conference, six have involved either or both of the USC Trojans or UCLA Bruins:
- October 3, 2009: No. 10 Oregon 47, No. 4 USC 20
- October 27, 2007: No. 5 Oregon 24, No. 9 USC 17
- October 9, 2004: No. 1 USC 23, No. 7 Cal 17 (the Aaron Rodgers Game)
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November 1, 2003: No. 3 USC 43, No. 16 Washington St. 16
- October 13, 2001: No. 7 UCLA 35, No. 10 Washington 13
- November 19, 1988: No. 2 USC 31, No. 6 UCLA 22 (Rodney Peete vs. Troy Aikman)
In the previous 12 conference matchups of AP top 10 teams, the higher-ranked team is 8-4 and the home team is 9-3. It should be a fun game in Palo Alto on Saturday.